1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to protective devices and more particularly to devices for maintaining a protective padding or cushioning over an area of a person's body. Prior Art
Limb protection devices including arrangements for positioning a pad or pads over a particular surface are not new. Some examples of such earlier devices include an inflatable heel protector by Graziano, U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,298, and an inflatable bag by Conroy, U.S. Pat. No. 3,784,985, that is for use with a curvilinear athletic pad to protect a person's arm or leg. Neither of which devices includes a cellular shock pad or mounting therefore like that of the present invention.
Further, a protective device is shown in a patent to Porner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,269, that includes a pad that includes a plurality or resilient layers rather than a cellular configuration for fitting it to an extremity, either human or animal. Finally, a patent to Keller, U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,489, shows a shin guard arrangement that, like the preferred embodiment of the present invention, is for cushioning an athlete's shin area from contact with a boot top. The Keller guard, however, involves a conventional pad that is fitted over a split sleeve formed of, essentially, a non-compliant material. Whereas, the present invention provides a unique shock pad that includes a cellular flow component therewith and an arrangement for securing individual shock pads so as to cover contact zones of a person's extremity.